


Cranaë Metamorphoses

by Mahari



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 22:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20265307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mahari/pseuds/Mahari
Summary: Original work of free-form poetry by author. Do not reproduce or distribute without express written permission.





	Cranaë Metamorphoses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Voyager Book Club](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Voyager+Book+Club).

> With thanks to @cnroth

In the hall of your understanding  
is a heavy brown door with serpentine gilded frame of hawthorne and white ivory,  
burnished brass hinge and knocker.  
Its features you know well  
though you spare it but glances  
to slip sequestered ideas between its iron jaws  
And, the lock is forever closed,  
except when it’s not,  
and it’s those days that weigh most:  
those days of recollection.

The key is kept secret,  
safe in a hallowed drawer where none could find it  
for it rests between shadows: Janus in liminal state.

For to open the door, one must glance askew  
from behind shuttered eyes,  
beneath fringed gaze shades,  
the tassel’d shadows creating space  
for an unspoiled mind.

Fear not, wayward voyager  
Phaethon is nowhere near  
Helios’ blinding chariot  
cannot illuminate the memories you hold sacred.  
Alas, like the neighbours of dear  
Baucis and Philemon, no kind souls  
fill these expanses of memory:  
the mirror portrays Hermes’ pitcher; best preserve the lessons of old locked up safely.

Yet Janus will not forget, and holds up the key:  
understanding is contractual and you must embrace it  
Thus you are Cranaë no more  
though you bear it not for long  
a glimpse must suffice, a specific memory be drawn

Voyager! Your journey is long and heroic it remains  
Absolved and absolving, each decision hinges on locked memories;  
His blessing a whitethorn mantle across broad shoulders,  
Janus guards well the sacred key.


End file.
